The conference realignment wheel keeps on spinning — but
could be close to stopping.

Air Force and Bellarmine are both seeking membership in the
newly-formed Atlantic Sun men's lacrosse league, according to an
Air Force official and other sources, respectively.

The pair represents two of the three lacrosse programs that are
scheduled to be left in the Eastern College Athletic Conference
(ECAC) by spring 2015. Hobart is the other. It doesn't look like
the ECAC will survive past next spring, once Fairfield, Ohio State
and Michigan leave for the CAA and Big Ten. Denver and Loyola (Md.)
are headed out a year earlier than that, going to the Big East and
Patriot League, respectively, next season.

Air Force, with its Colorado location, is an outlier in the
Division I men's lacrosse landscape and in a tough predicament when
it comes to selecting a preferred league to join, but feels the
Atlantic Sun may be the best fit.

"I have reached out to the Atlantic Sun commissioner [Ted
Gumbart] in an effort to join the Atlantic Sun as an affiliate
member for lacrosse," said Air Force associate athletic director
George Nelson, the administrator for lacrosse at Air Force. "They
have not approached us but there has been discussion among some of
the coaches. We would love to be members of the conference
beginning in 2015 and our next step may be to call the athletic
directors for support."

Meanwhile, Bellarmine is in serious talks with the Atlantic Sun
and an official announcement on its membership could come in the
next two weeks, sources said. The move to the Atlantic Sun would
make sense for Bellarmine with its location in Louisville, Ky., and
the fact that the new league already has six teams and is
immediately eligible for an automatic qualifying berth to the NCAA
tournament. The berth will go to the winner of the conference
championship.

Another source said Hobart has been approached by the Northeast
Conference (NEC) and America East about possible lacrosse
membership. With Quinnipiac leaving the NEC for the MAAC and
Monmouth starting its first men's lacrosse season in the MAAC in
2014, the NEC is down to five teams for next season, one short of
the six needed to remain eligible for an NCAA tournament automatic
qualifier. The America East is scheduled to have as its men's
programs in 2015: Albany, Binghamton, Hartford, Stony Brook, UMass
Lowell, UMBC and Vermont.

Hobart is also looking for a new head coach after T.W. Johnson
decided to leave the program.

Once decisions are made on Air Force, Bellarmine and Hobart, the
current conference realignment cycle could cool for now, unless
Hobart chooses a path other than the NEC, leaving the remaining
teams in that league — Bryant, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart,
Mt. St. Mary's and Wagner — without a chance to grab a prized
NCAA tournament AQ berth, and possibly questioning their conference
affiliation.